sarahnb
12-05-2007, 08:58 AM
New trash plan begins on July 1
Environment Strategy would reduce garbage going to landfill and could save $300,000 a year
Print this ArticleEmail this ArticleComments | 0Resize TextBookmark this ArticleFacebookDiggStumble Upondel.icio.usLive BookmarkTechnoratiTOOL HELPJohn Mazerolle
Telegraph-Journal
Published Wednesday December 5th, 2007
Appeared on page C1
SAINT JOHN - The city government is revamping the way it deals with Saint John's garbage in hopes of saving $300,000 a year by 2012 and making citizens more trash-conscious.
Paul Groody, commissioner of operations and engineering, says the new plan will work to make the city's trash pickup, recycling, and composting more efficient and effective, while educating (and eventually punishing) those who abuse the system.
The new plan, slated to begin on July 1 next year, will still receive feedback from the public and be debated in its finer points by common council, but has five distinct goals, as outlined in a report that Groody presented to council Monday. They are:
* Increase the amount of tonnage diverted to blue bins by 100 tonnes each year.
* Reduce the amount of residential garbage by 250 tonnes each year (The city collects about 12,800 tonnes annually).
* Deliver 10 school education programs each year.
* Demonstrate a two per cent improved cost per household from year to year.
* Service collection routes to be completed within an eight-hour work shift at least 95 per cent of the time.
Besides reducing environmental damage, the plan should decrease costs to the city, Groody believes, with a budget goal of approximately $3.7 million in 2012, as opposed to a $4 million cost if the city continues on its current path.
The report includes multiple connections to the city's Vision 2015 project, including the city's recently adopted sustainability principles, the need for ongoing public consultations, and a profile of the city's waste management service.
Coun. Glen Tait, the councillor in charge of that project, lauded the plan as the first example of Vision 2015's tangible results.
"This is the meat and potatoes," he said. "Now we can start to really see what it's all about and understand it. Service standards, we have in front of us, goals, performance measures, more efficient and cost effective ways to provide the services."
Groody stressed repeatedly the need for the community to buy into the city's plan by recycling and composting more, not putting out bulky items during normal pickup, and wiping out illegal dumping. Certain Saint Johners "are hurting people and the environment, and they are an unnecessary burden on taxpayers," Groody said.
He and council both stressed that if residents need help with their garbage, they can call the city at 658-4455 to find out what to do.
The plan includes new, two-week collection cycles for 21,749 households, with weekly pickup for 3,858 households in so-called vulnerable neighbourhoods, where people are poorer, residences are smaller, and population density is higher. Compost pickup would happen the same day.
Council voted in favour of the staff report, but will likely debate some of the finer points, including the weekly service in poor neighbourhoods.
Coun. Peter McGuire and Deputy Mayor Michelle Hooton both welcome the extra service, while Tait and Coun. John Ferguson had concerns that could be seen as unfair.
Groody stressed that weekly pickup in poorer neighbourhoods is not meant to be permanent.
Council members are also likely to debate who is eligible to receive service from the city. Staff are recommending that home-based businesses remain ineligible for pickup, but some councillors believe it makes economic sense to offer it to them or that it's unfair to the owners.
Groody said it would increase the costs of the plan and "open a sizeable can of worms," especially because other businesses will complain.
The plan includes a number of future possibilities as well: night pickup (to be piloted in the South End); automated waste collection, where the truck, rather than the workers, does the lifting (to be piloted in Lakewood, Champlain Heights, and Westgate), and bag limits, proposed for 2009.
"The introduction of such limits is essential if the notion of sustainability is to become a reality - something more than simply rhetoric and motherhood," Groody's report reads.
Looks like they will be implementing waste carts similar to the green carts for compost. ABOUT TIME!!!!!! NS and PEI use them and very few issues with animals and messy garbage piles.
It also says that if the community doesn't do its share, a user-pay system might be necessary to ensure that irresponsible "cost-causers" pay more.
The city's garbage pickup is done by both public and private workers. About 80 per cent of the pickup is done by 11 municipal employees, using eight city vehicles.
The plan calls for a slight increase in the work done by private contractors.
Environment Strategy would reduce garbage going to landfill and could save $300,000 a year
Print this ArticleEmail this ArticleComments | 0Resize TextBookmark this ArticleFacebookDiggStumble Upondel.icio.usLive BookmarkTechnoratiTOOL HELPJohn Mazerolle
Telegraph-Journal
Published Wednesday December 5th, 2007
Appeared on page C1
SAINT JOHN - The city government is revamping the way it deals with Saint John's garbage in hopes of saving $300,000 a year by 2012 and making citizens more trash-conscious.
Paul Groody, commissioner of operations and engineering, says the new plan will work to make the city's trash pickup, recycling, and composting more efficient and effective, while educating (and eventually punishing) those who abuse the system.
The new plan, slated to begin on July 1 next year, will still receive feedback from the public and be debated in its finer points by common council, but has five distinct goals, as outlined in a report that Groody presented to council Monday. They are:
* Increase the amount of tonnage diverted to blue bins by 100 tonnes each year.
* Reduce the amount of residential garbage by 250 tonnes each year (The city collects about 12,800 tonnes annually).
* Deliver 10 school education programs each year.
* Demonstrate a two per cent improved cost per household from year to year.
* Service collection routes to be completed within an eight-hour work shift at least 95 per cent of the time.
Besides reducing environmental damage, the plan should decrease costs to the city, Groody believes, with a budget goal of approximately $3.7 million in 2012, as opposed to a $4 million cost if the city continues on its current path.
The report includes multiple connections to the city's Vision 2015 project, including the city's recently adopted sustainability principles, the need for ongoing public consultations, and a profile of the city's waste management service.
Coun. Glen Tait, the councillor in charge of that project, lauded the plan as the first example of Vision 2015's tangible results.
"This is the meat and potatoes," he said. "Now we can start to really see what it's all about and understand it. Service standards, we have in front of us, goals, performance measures, more efficient and cost effective ways to provide the services."
Groody stressed repeatedly the need for the community to buy into the city's plan by recycling and composting more, not putting out bulky items during normal pickup, and wiping out illegal dumping. Certain Saint Johners "are hurting people and the environment, and they are an unnecessary burden on taxpayers," Groody said.
He and council both stressed that if residents need help with their garbage, they can call the city at 658-4455 to find out what to do.
The plan includes new, two-week collection cycles for 21,749 households, with weekly pickup for 3,858 households in so-called vulnerable neighbourhoods, where people are poorer, residences are smaller, and population density is higher. Compost pickup would happen the same day.
Council voted in favour of the staff report, but will likely debate some of the finer points, including the weekly service in poor neighbourhoods.
Coun. Peter McGuire and Deputy Mayor Michelle Hooton both welcome the extra service, while Tait and Coun. John Ferguson had concerns that could be seen as unfair.
Groody stressed that weekly pickup in poorer neighbourhoods is not meant to be permanent.
Council members are also likely to debate who is eligible to receive service from the city. Staff are recommending that home-based businesses remain ineligible for pickup, but some councillors believe it makes economic sense to offer it to them or that it's unfair to the owners.
Groody said it would increase the costs of the plan and "open a sizeable can of worms," especially because other businesses will complain.
The plan includes a number of future possibilities as well: night pickup (to be piloted in the South End); automated waste collection, where the truck, rather than the workers, does the lifting (to be piloted in Lakewood, Champlain Heights, and Westgate), and bag limits, proposed for 2009.
"The introduction of such limits is essential if the notion of sustainability is to become a reality - something more than simply rhetoric and motherhood," Groody's report reads.
Looks like they will be implementing waste carts similar to the green carts for compost. ABOUT TIME!!!!!! NS and PEI use them and very few issues with animals and messy garbage piles.
It also says that if the community doesn't do its share, a user-pay system might be necessary to ensure that irresponsible "cost-causers" pay more.
The city's garbage pickup is done by both public and private workers. About 80 per cent of the pickup is done by 11 municipal employees, using eight city vehicles.
The plan calls for a slight increase in the work done by private contractors.